


Light

by JenJo



Series: 12 Days of SteveTony [9]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-22
Updated: 2015-12-22
Packaged: 2018-05-08 09:54:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5492936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JenJo/pseuds/JenJo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'12 Days of SteveTony' from Dailysuperhusbands on Tumblr.<br/>Day 9: Light.</p><p>Tony & Steve are trapped underground. Things are said that won't see the light of day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Light

**Author's Note:**

> Steve is injured. Nothing graphic is described. And I know nothing about how the human body works.  
> Takes place 2 days after 'Gift' & 'Flirt".

"light from the reactor seems bright enough," Tony muttered to himself, trying to see around him. "JARVIS? You back yet buddy?"  
[SYSTEMS OPERATIONAL. MOVEMENT WOULD BE UNADVISED, SIR. THE STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY OF THE BUILDING HAS BEEN COMPROMISED. THE SUIT WILL FUNCTION FOR LIFE SUPPORT, BUT NOT MUCH ELSE.]  
"That's better than what you'd expect after being crushed by a building," Tony smiled, before going still. "Steve!"  
"Right here," a small voice came from Tony's right. Tony turned, and saw Steve laying on his back.  
"You okay?" Tony crawled over, retracting the faceplate as he went. Steve had his eyes closed, with a smile on his face.  
"I am now. Your voice is nice." Steve reached out his hand to take Tony's. "But why is your hand so hard?"  
"You're not normally this affectionate on the field, or clueless," Tony narrowed his eyes at Steve, before closing the faceplate. "J? What's wrong with him?"  
[PRELIMINARY SCANS INDICATE HEAVY BLOOD LOSS, SEVERE CONCUSSION, AND PROBABLE BROKEN LIMBS. ASSISTANCE IS ON ITS WAY. YOU ARE ADVISED TO KEEP THE CAPTAIN AWAKE.]  
"Okay, anything else?"  
[IT WOULD BE BEST IF THE CAPTAIN DID NOT BECOME AWARE OF THE METAL THAT HAS PIERCED HIS RIGHT SHOULDER.]  
"What?" Tony retracted the face plate. Even in the dim light of the arc reactor, he could make out the protruding metal.  
"What's wrong Tony?" Steve reached up, putting a hand over Tony's eyebrows. "I don't like the way your eyebrows go when you're worried."  
"Nothing's wrong Steve," Tony retracted the rest of his armour, and sat closer to Steve's left side. He took Steve's hand in his own. "How are you?"  
"I think, I think I hit my head," Steve frowned. "I don't remember how. How did we get here Tony?"  
Tony ran a hand over Steve's eyebrows. "Hey, your eyebrows aren't nice when you're worried either. Do you remember the robots?"  
Steve began to shake his head, before groaning and closing his eyes against the pain. "Ow, that hurt."  
"Yeah, you have a concussion. Try not to move your head too much."  
"Can't move much of anything right now." Steve opened his eyes again, and looked straight at Tony. "What robots?"  
"Ugly robots. We thought that they might have been sent by Doom, but when we got to the site, it was clear they were worse."  
"Worse than doom bots?"  
"Yeah. It was like they had a plan."  
"That would be dangerous." Steve went to lift his left hand, but Tony held it close. He brought it up to his lips, and pressed a kiss to it.  
"It was. I don't know what happened to the others, but they cornered me in this building. They let off an EMP that shorted out my systems, but not theirs."  
"These robots are really dangerous. Hey Tony, can I have my left hand back?"  
Tony gave Steve a small smile, and held the hand tighter. "Not yet okay?"  
"Okay Tony, you always know best," Steve practically beamed up at Tony. He tried to give Steve a smile back, and ignored the tears he could feel in his eyes.  
"Most of the time, babe."  
"Tell me more about the robots?"  
"Alright. So, after the EMP, I was on my back, waiting for my systems to reboot. The robots had all disappeared, and I figured that they were leaving me to die. Then, I heard the ticking of a bomb. Next thing I knew, you were right above me, shielding my body with your own, then the building collapsed."  
"So I saved your life," Steve smiled at Tony, who rolled his eyes in response.  
"I'm sure the armour would have protected me."  
"Sure Tony, you keep telling yourself that," Steve used his left hand to pat Tony's cheek. "You're not injured, right?"  
"Nope, besides being trapped in here with you, I am perfectly fine. But help is coming to free us any minute now."  
"I'm not fine, am I?" Steve was still looking up at Tony, the lightness that had been in his eyes earlier now gone. Tony gave him a small smile.  
"Not completely. What you did was kind of foolish."  
"If it didn't hurt so much, I'd be shaking my head at you. Tony, keeping you safe is something that I choose to do. It isn't foolish."  
"I would have been fine Steve-"  
"You don't know that," he coughed, the dust finally getting into his lungs. "Ow. Stop fighting with a concussed man."  
"Steve..."  
"Don't," Steve smiled at Tony again, squeezing the man's hands. "I wanna ask you something."  
"Right now? Whatever it is, I'm sure it can wait."  
"It's important."  
Tony sighed. "Fine. Ask away."  
Steve smiled up at Tony, light back in his eyes. "Marry me, Tony Stark."  
Tony blinked. "What?"  
"You heard me."  
"Steve, you're concussed, you've suffered a brain injury, you're probably in shock. You're not thinking straight."  
The light fell from Steve's eyes again, and he looked away from Tony. He let go of Tony's hands.  
"You don't want to marry me."  
"Steve," Tony breathed, reaching out for Steve's hands again. Steve curled them into fists, and Tony took the hint. "Darling, now is not the time. You should never make serious decisions when you have a head injury."  
"Sure," Steve closed his eyes. "Am I bleeding?"  
"What?" The abrupt change in topic almost gave Tony whiplash. He looked up at Steve's face.  
"I think my shoulder is bleeding, where the metal pole is."  
"You knew? JARVIS told me to make sure that you didn't."  
Steve opened his eyes, and raised an eyebrow at him. "What? Afraid I would faint? Tony, I was in a war, this is tame compared to some of the things that I have seen. Is it bleeding?"  
Tony crawled around to Steve's left side, and looked at the wound. He frowned down at it. "No, it looks healed. Besides the pole, obviously. The skin is fine."  
"That can't be good," Steve looked at Tony. "Touch it."  
"What?" Tony looked at Steve, who was serious.  
"I need to know if there's feeling in it."  
Tony nodded in understanding, before reaching out. He pressed lightly around the pole, and Steve scrunched up his eyes in pain.  
"Yep, there's feeling. Means the skin's healed."  
"Is that bad?"  
"Means that it'll be harder to remove the pole. And more painful."  
Tony leaned back from Steve's shoulder, sitting next to Steve's legs. "You'll get through it."  
Whatever Steve said in response was drowned out by the sound of earth being moved above them. A rescue crew had cleared the surrounding building, allowing access to the two trapped men.  
"He needs medical assistance," Tony pointed at Steve, who had closed his eyes again. Tony moved out of the way as a medical response crew begun to transport Steve.  
"You okay?" Natasha had climbed down, slipping around all the people to check on Tony, who had not moved.  
"No, but at least I can breath fresh air again. Not exactly good for a man without a complete set of lungs."  
Natasha helped Tony to stand. "They'll be taking him to the infirmary at the Tower. We could beat them back, and you could have a shower while they treat Steve."  
"I don't have a choice, do I?" Tony looked at Natasha, who had a familiar smirk on her face.  
"Nope. Your suit will be fine, right?"  
"Your phone?" Natasha gave it without hesitation. Tony pressed a few buttons, and the suit began to fly back to the armoury. He handed back the phone, which Natasha pocketed wordlessly. She put an arm around Tony, and helped him walk out of the rubble.

~~~~~

"So, you don't remember anything?"  
It was five hours after Steve and Tony were rescued, and the team were assembled in Steve's room in the infirmary.  
He shook his head. "No Bruce, no memory. Last thing I remember we were eating breakfast."  
"That was over twelve hours ago," Clint pointed out. Steve shrugged with his left shoulder. His right was still taped up, to stop him from moving it.  
"I'm sorry, but I don't remember anything since."  
"The memory might come back," Bruce said, "It might not. Concussions are different for everyone, and a concussion that beat your serum? Unprecedented."  
"Another point for weird science," Steve smiled, before closing his eyes. "If you don't mind, I'm not going to be much help in this debriefing. And I'm tired. Could you let me sleep?"  
"You're kicking us out," Clint stated. Steve smiled wider, but kept his eyes shut.  
"Basically. Thank you all for checking up on me, but I'll be fine. Let me rest."  
"We get the message," Clint said as he left the room. The team each bid Steve to get well quickly before leaving.  
"I am fine," Steve said to the supposedly empty room. "No need to check on me."  
"Really?" Tony stood up from the wall that he had been leaning on, before walking over to sit next to Steve on the bed. Steve opened his eyes and looked at Tony.  
"Why wouldn't I be?"  
"Don't have to lie to me Steve."  
"I know."  
"So you don't remember anything that has happened since breakfast?"  
"Nope. Is there something that I should remember?"  
Tony shook his head, before pressing a kiss to Steve's lips. "Not really. The battle sucked, and the being trapped underground thing sucked as well. You're not missing out by not remembering."  
"Okay. Thank you Tony."  
"Any time Steve."  
"Now, I really do want to sleep. And if you stay, I may not be so inclined to sleep."  
Tony rolled his eyes fondly, before pressing a kiss to Steve's forehead. "Sleep well, sleeping beauty. I'm just a call away."  
"I thought that you had stopped calling me that?" Steve called as Tony walked out of the room. As he closed the door, Tony simply blew a kiss back at Steve.  
Once the door closed, Steve closed his eyes, a smile on his face as he went to sleep.  
Until the door opened and closed again.  
Steve groaned, opening his eyes. "Why are you here Natasha?"  
She took a seat beside Steve's bed, on his right. She crossed her right leg over her left, and crossed her arms. She levelled an expressionless look at Steve.  
"You lied to Tony."  
"You lie to Tony all the time."  
"Why did you lie to Tony?"  
"Why do you lie to him?"  
"All lies serve a purpose. What is yours?"  
Steve sighed, and broke eye contact with the spy. "I am too tired to do this with you."  
Natasha uncrossed her arms. "What are you hiding?"  
Steve blew out a breath from his nose, before looking back at her. "I remember being trapped underground with him. It's fuzzy, like an old memory. But there's something that I remember clearly."  
She didn't answer him, waiting for him to continue.  
"I proposed."  
She merely raised an eyebrow in acknowledgement.  
"He said no."  
She uncrossed her legs, and leaned forward. "He said no."  
"Not in those exact words."  
"What did he say?"  
"He said that I had a head injury, and wasn't thinking straight."  
"An accurate analysis of the situation."  
"It hurt. Maybe he doesn't love me the way that I love him. I don't think that I could handle the rejection. It's just easier to make him think that I don't remember, this way we can both pretend that it didn't happen."  
"You want to marry him?"  
"With my whole heart."  
Natasha shrugged her shoulders as she stood up. "Maybe you should ask him again."  
"You think that he'd say yes?"  
"I don't think anything."  
"Really? I think that you have strong feelings on this matter, which is the only reason that you are here."  
Natasha gave a predatory smile before speaking. "Tony is a dear friend of mine. My presence here was to ensure that my friend was not being hurt. Anyone who hurts a friend of mine will suffer the consequences."  
"Am I not also your friend?"  
Natasha shrugged in indifference. "I've known Tony longer." She turned and left the room before Steve could ask her anything else.  
"Maybe now I can sleep," Steve muttered as he closed his eyes again. He was unable to sleep though, instead thinking about how he was going to propose to Tony.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading.  
> So, that was a bit less fluff than previous instalments.  
> Don't worry, we'll return to your regular fluff in the next instalment.


End file.
